I’m vlogging, I’m vlogging again.

The Dutch bicycling miracle is all thanks to the political acumen of bicycling advocates in the sixties and seventies demanding separate bike infrastructure. Or, if you don’t like that story, the Dutch bicycling miracle is all thanks to the political ineptitude of road and rail engineers who failed to put obstacles in bicyclists’ way. Either way, on a warm Sunday like today it is a kind of a miracle. The Dutch don’t ask, “shall we go for a ride?” They ask, “where shall we ride to?” Everyone rides.

It has been a great day therefore to ride around with my old iPhone-3, the one I had with me in 2011 when I was riding around Amsterdam vlogging (though the genre wasn’t yet named) and researching a book. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel inspired to use my new phone and all of its apps in this way. With my old iPhone I feel as though I’m pushing something to do what it’s not meant to do, and therein lies the fun. So here’s what I saw during this afternoon’s ride.

First, I happening upon a pair of bridges by West-8. They showed me their photos of them when I visited their office in Rotterdam in 2011, and I saw the same photos again when I was at the Maxxi shortly thereafter. In the architects’ minds the irreverence of photographing their own bridge (the taller of the two) with children illegally crawling upon in, synced somehow with the theme of my book, that to them would have gone on the shelf beside architectural texts on graffiti or parkour. In any case, I saw it today and, as luck would have it, it was being used exactly as its designers’ intended.

Next, a building on piloti, meaning the bike parking around the entry is protected from rain. Imagine if a whole city were built this way and everyone could ride as the crow flies and never get wet! (I imagine such things all the time.)

And finally, a video with wind noise you just can’t capture as clearly with newer phones.

And to take us out, Talking Heads, with Artists Only. I am sure you will see the connection.